There was no doubt upon reading Eugene's post that it was a decision that warranted further discussion.  Seriously, a prosecutor pulling a birthday cake out of a bag during summation, complete with 8 candles to mark the birthday the deceased victim would never see.  It doesn't get any more bizarre.

But before I could get off the phone and churn it out, along came Gideon at A Public Defender  with a great post on the same case.   The stress point is that this frosted bit of outrageous drama is deemed waived on appeal because defense counsel neglected to object.  Post hoc, of course, defendant counsel (and I leave you to read Gid's version to know where he places himself in the top 10 best criminal defense lawyers in the whole, wide, entire State of Georgia, claims the decision was "strategic," as he didn't want to draw additional attention to the cake.

Right.  Because there was a good chance that the jury wouldn't otherwise notice a lit birthday cake for a dead child pulled out a bag during summation.

Apparently, neither integrity, honest nor zealous representation are part of the criteria for making that list of the best lawyers ever.  Then again, as long as lawyers are allowed to proclaim themselves the bestest ever, the criteria will remain a perpetual mystery.

But I already give away too much, since there no point in my writing about it when Gid's already done the work for me.  As the title says, piece of cake.